


silver bells and cockleshells

by the_nerd_youre_looking_for



Series: TMA Fantasy Week [4]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Banter, Domestic Fluff, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Has ADHD, Location: Alice "Daisy" Tonner's Scottish Safehouse, M/M, TMA Fantasy Week, Trans Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Trans Martin Blackwood, its important to me!, only vaguely though but they are up there, pls they are both so bitchy, they r married...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29983476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_nerd_youre_looking_for/pseuds/the_nerd_youre_looking_for
Summary: Five times Martin used his garden to help out Jon, and one time Jon used it to help MartinPrompt: Garden
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Series: TMA Fantasy Week [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2201430
Comments: 7
Kudos: 45





	silver bells and cockleshells

**Author's Note:**

> gardens are so fucking romantic im dying over here....sorry u all must put up with the weird little things i find romantic
> 
> I love to imagine in canon as well that they make a little garden up in the safehouse (and nothing bad ever happens it's Fine) 
> 
> I adore the "old married couple" dynamic so we get a lot of that here

_Rosemary+Sage_

One of the first things Jon and Martin had done when they'd moved up to Scotland was clear out the garden space out back. It had been covered with weeds, terribly overgrown, and the wooden fence was broken. It wasn't something they needed to do, fixing the garden, but it was something to do and it was fun. 

Besides, Jon knew Martin had wanted a proper garden for herbs and such. Jon was fine with his potted plants and didn't use herbs much anyways, but it had always been a goal of Martin's. Have a place where he could grow his plants and flowers. 

It had taken a long while. At least one whole day was spent clearing out the space, and it was an absolute hassle to get the gate working again. But it was worth it. It had been so worth it. 

Martin was out in the garden one afternoon, taking cuttings of some herbs with a small pair of scissors. Easiest way to do it without wrecking the plant. Martin learned that the time he'd accidentally ripped up nearly a whole parsley plant. 

Sage for wisdom and rosemary for psychic enhancement. That was all he needed today. 

Inside the cottage was the rest of what he needed. Some peppermint oil and a cinnamon stick from the spice rack, tiger's eye and clear quartz from his (rather impressive) collection of crystals and rocks, all mixed into a small drawstring pouch. 

He traced a couple sigils in the air around it, watching them spark into existence for a moment before fading. Perfect. Only took about five minutes. 

"What're you up to in here, Mr. Blackwood?" Martin felt Jon's arms wrap around him from behind. 

"You know me. Crimes." He turned around and pressed the pouch into Jon's hands. "For you. To help you focus." 

A soft smile spread across Jon's face. "Thank you. You're too good to me." He stepped up on his tiptoes to press a kiss to Martin's cheek. 

"Yeah, you still have to take your meds so don't get any ideas." Martin smiled as Jon heaved an overly dramatic sigh. "What brings you out of your cave of terrors?" 

"Grading essays from twenty primary school students is, shockingly, not very thrilling. I was going to make some cocoa. Maybe surprise my husband but look who's here." 

"I'll just go back outside and act surprised, how 'bout it? To make up for the unforgivable error of being in the kitchen." 

"I don't know if you can make up for it." Jon smiled. "Just stay in here. It's fine."

______

_Raspberry leaf, mint, parsley_

They had eventually decided to keep the flowers up front, once they saw how much space berry bushes would take up. It looks a lot nicer up front anyway, at least in Martin's opinions. Orange mums and yellow daffodils potted on the porch with a couple hanging plants made it feel very...cozy. Homey.

The back half of the garden was reserved for the berry bushes. Blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. They took up so much space, you couldn't do much else with the area. Jon had built up a makeshift brick wall, about two layers tall, in an effort to stop them growing over the whole rest of the garden. It mostly only succeeding in tripping Martin up, but the bushes didn't go past it, although the blackberry branches would cover it up. So he kept it up. 

The recipe here called for smaller amounts of the ingredients, but he was planning on making quite a bit, so he clipped most of his mint and parsley leaves off and then stepped over the low brick wall to clip off some raspberry leaves. What an ordeal, trying to navigate through the thorny branches. It was hard enough when they were actually picking the berries off. But he made it out with a small bowl filled with all his leaves. 

In the kitchen, he added some ground ginger and mugwort (which they actually hardly ever used, go figure), mixed it around a bit, and put the mixture in a small mason jar. 

Jon noticed it when he was gathering ingredients for dinner. "What's this here?" He held up the jar so Martin could see it from the living room. 

"Oh, it's a tea blend. Supposed to help with period cramps." Martin looked up from his knitting. "Thought it would be useful."

"What, and Advil isn't cutting it for you?"

Martin just shrugged. "I know you hate pills, and I like tea. So it's a win-win situation, really." 

Jon stared at him a moment before putting it back and digging out some spices. "You're sweet." 

"So you've said." 

"And I'll keep saying it."

______

_Rosemary_

Jon would often help in the garden, but it was mostly Martin's work. He sort of liked it that way, honestly. He'd never had a pet when he was little and it felt somewhat similar to that. Keeping something alive, making sure it's healthy and happy. Sometimes it was difficult, just because of the sheer size of it, and it was often messy. But that was just part of what made it special. The time and effort invested in it, and it always paid off. 

Spell jars were always simple enough, especially this one. Just some salt and rosemary leaves in a small vial, sealed with white candle wax. He stood it at the window in the living room, facing the walk up, as Jon watched him with something like amusement in his eyes. 

"Finally getting around to it, are you?" Jon teased, slipping a bookmark between the pages of the novel he'd been reading.

"You know you're more than welcome to do it yourself." Martin took a seat in the armchair he'd sort of claimed as his own over the years. "You were complaining about bad energies here for _ages_ and what did I see you doing about it?" 

"Well, I figured out they were here. So you're welcome." 

"Thank you for letting me do all the work about it." Martin pulled his knitting out and shot a smile over at Jon. "Well, in any case, that should do the trick. My laboring should be sufficient." 

"My big strong man, pouring some salt and leaves into a jar." Jon re-opened his book and was immediately lost in it. It was some mystery novel this week, Martin thought. He knew those were always a risk with Jon, because sometimes his divination skills would fire off randomly and give away the end. 

It was nice when that was all they worried about.

______

_Rosemary, mint, sage_

Obviously, Martin understood not every witch could just pop up and maintain a big garden if they so chose to. Sometimes living situations wouldn't allow for it, sometimes money or time got in the way, and sometimes a witch just didn't want or need a garden for their herbs and such. He gets the merits of store-bought stuff, obviously. For quite a while, that's what he'd had to work with too.

But there was definitely something special about having plants that you've cared for by your own hands, he thinks. At least for him. It felt different, using plants he'd taken care of since they were just some seeds, giving a little bit of himself to them, his own special touch.

Maybe that's not how it works but he likes to imagine it does, just a little at least.

Martin popped a mint leaf in his mouth while he was putting everything together. He liked mint and it was fun to chew things, so sue him. 

"Are you meant to eat the spell ingredients?"

"Oh hush, you smartass." Martin twisted around to press a kiss to the top of Jon's head. "This is for you anyways, so don't be picky with me."

"Is it?" Jon asked, like he'd never once before had anything given to him. "What's it for?"

"Good sleep. I can tell you've been needing it lately." He rummaged around the junk drawer for a lighter. "You mind sealing it? Candle's over by you." 

Jon light their blue candle and waited for it to melt while Martin stuck a bag of popcorn in the microwave. Jon was a fan of watching the wax melt, and Martin couldn't stand sitting there that long so it was a good compromise.

"All set. I'll set it in the bedroom." 

"Come back soon, or I'll start the movie without you."

"You wouldn't dare. I'll spoil the end for you."

______

_Dandelion_

Martin's favorite times in the garden are when the berries are ripe, and he and Jon go out and pick bowls upon bowls. They're good in just about everything: desserts, jams, snacks. They complain about the thorns, and getting old when they have to bend over to pick some off the lower branches, but it's just plain _fun._ It's become a bit of a tradition. They've even got a day set for it, a day they know everything will be ripe by and neither of them will have any other worries throughout the day. 

"Here. For you." Martin hands Jon a fistful of dandelions from the garden, kisses him on the forehead, and makes a beeline for the shower.

"Oh! Thank you." Jon sounds delighted, and Martin can hear him bustling around the kitchen, probably looking for a nice cup to fill with water and put them in.

It was really sweet, how Jon reacted to anything Martin gave him. It was just weeds. Jon could've picked them off the side of the road. But he acted like it was a bouquet of red roses. And sure, Martin knew they were good for psychic people and their powers, so he'd thought of Jon. It wasn't just some "oh, I'll give Jon these weeds". He hadn't explained that was what it was. But, it was from Martin and Jon loved it. Martin adored that about him.

______

_And one_

"Happy birthday, love." Jon pushed a little package over the table at breakfast. It was wrapped in some leftover Christmas paper, which Martin found a little silly.

"You know you didn't have to get me anything." Martin said, even as he unwrapped it. "Really, don't people say birthdays get less special once you hit thirty? How old even am I? Does time hold any meaning anymore?"

Jon grinned and threw a blueberry at him. Martin tried to catch it in his mouth, but it just hit him in the forehead. Not his smoothest moment. "You know you're forty-six. Open your present and stop complaining that I do nice things for you."

Inside the box were a couple of baggies and a few small bottles. "Oh, fun. I've got some leaves." Martin wasn't sure what it was, but he'd like it despite his teasing. 

"It's...I saw, on the Instagram, someone had a recipe to do a bath spell like the thing they had in Spirited Away, and you like that movie, so." He tapped the box twice. "That's that. You've gotta...you obviously need to put the stuff in the bath yourself, but there's some coconut oil and orange essential oils from the store, and there's lavender and basil from the garden. Just got some sea water for the salts here. Easy enough." 

"You are so cute." Martin practically beamed at Jon, pulling out the baggies and examining them. He hadn't seen Jon take this out of the garden, but he must've done it while he was out. "This is really sweet, thank you."

"I'm not _cute._ " Jon grumbled, absolutely proving Martin's point when he crossed his arms and pouted slightly. "But I'm glad you like it. It's meant to help you relax and all."

"Oh, you need that more than I do sometimes."

"Well, I'm better about it than I was. I should've gone with the tie."

"I take it back." Martin put everything back in the box and carefully closed it up. He'd have to break that out on some special day, maybe get Jon to share in it. Might be nice. "It's the best gift ever and you're my favorite husband." 

Jon could make all the little jokes about _"you've got other husbands now, do you"_ and _"I'd better be the favorite, you know how much snoring I put up with"_ as he wanted. Martin knew he was right. It was a very thoughtful gift, even if it might be simple, and he wasn't sure he'd like to be married to anyone other than Jon. 

Even when he was a pain in the ass.

Especially when he was a pain in the ass.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a thinly veiled attempt to cope w/the fact that they aren't gonna get to live out their lives in a normal and happy way ;-; 
> 
> A lot of the stuff is based off my knowledge of irl witchcraft and spells which is why it tends to not be very wand-wavey (which is also really cool and fun! just not how i tend to write witches). Which is ALSO why a lot of the stuff was repetitive. Uses the same herbs and stuff.
> 
> I see Martin as more a green witch (working with the earth and natural stuff) and Jon does more divination-y stuff like tarot and all
> 
> Me in every fic i incorporate witchcraft in: TAKE UR FUCKING MEDS!!


End file.
